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Chandrasekhara Venkata Raman

Chandrasekhara Venkata Raman

Sir Chandrasekhara Venkata Raman, CBE (November 7, 1888-November 21, 1970) was an Indian physicist, who was awarded the 1930 Nobel Prize in Physics for his work on the scattering of light and for the discovery of the Raman effect, which is named after him.

Raman was born in Tiruchirapalli, Tamil Nadu. At an early age, Raman moved to the city of Visakhapatnam, Andhra Pradesh. He completed his BA and MA in Physics and English from the Presidency College, Madras (now Chennai). He entered Presidency College, Madras, in 1902, and in 1904 passed his B.A. examination, winning the first place and the gold medal in physics; in 1907 he gained his M.A. degree, obtaining the highest distinctions. He joined the Indian Finance Department as an Assistant Accountant General in Calcutta (now Kolkata). Soon afterwards, Raman started doing experiments at the Indian Association for the Cultivation of Science (IACS). This is where Raman did his Nobel Prize winning work.

In 1917, Raman resigned from his government service and took up the newly created Palit Professorship in Physics at the University of Calcutta. Simultaneously, he continued doing research at the IACS, where he became the Honorary Secretary. Raman used to refer to this period as the golden era of his career. Many talented students gathered around him at the IACS and the University of Calcutta.

Raman won the 1930 Nobel Prize in Physics for his work on the scattering of light and for the discovery of the Raman effect. Raman spectroscopy is based on this phenomenon. An interesting anecdote goes that he booked his tickets to Stockholm several months before the Nobel prizes were announced.

Raman also worked on the acoustics of musical instruments. He worked out the theory of transverse vibration of bowed strings, on the basis of superposition velocities. This does a better job in explaining bowed string vibration over Helmholtzs approach. He was also the first to investigate the harmonic nature of the sound of the Indian drums such as the tabla and the mridangam.

In 1934, Raman became the director of the newly established Indian Institute of Science in Bangalore, where two years later he continued as a professor of physics. In 1947, he was appointed as the first National Professor by the new government of Independent India. He retired from the Indian Institute in 1948 and a year later he established the Raman Research Institute in Bangalore, serving as its director and remained active there until his death on 1970, in Bangalore, Karnataka, at the age of 82.

He also started a company called Travancore Chemical and Manufacturing Co. Ltd. in 1943 along with Dr. Krishnamurthy. The Company during its 60 year history, established 4 factories in Southern India. [1]

He was knighted in 1929 and awarded the Bharat Ratna in 1954. Raman was also awarded the Lenin Peace Prize (1957).

CV Raman is the uncle of Nobel laureate Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar.

India celebrates National Science Day on the 28th February of every year to commemorate Raman's discovery in 1928.

Quotes

When he was offered a toast during the Nobel function: Being a strict teetotaller he responded, "Sir, you have seen the Raman effect on alcohol; please do not try to see the alcohol effect on Raman."

"On the Mechanical Theory of the Vibrations of Bowed Strings and of Musical Instruments of the Violin Family, with Experimental Verification of Results - Part 1", Bulletin, Indian Association for the Cultivation of Science, 1918

"The Theory of the Cyclical Vibrations of a Bowed String", Bulletin, Indian Association for the Cultivation of Science, 1918